Economic Equality after Divorce

Family law has become highly controversial in the last two decades. Child custody, child and spouse abuse, and surrogate motherhood are the issues most likely to capture the attention of the media. But these are not the only troubling issues. The differences in economic impact of divorce upon men, women, and children have also become increasingly visible.

By the late 1980s half of all single parents in the United States lived below the poverty line, and 70 percent of these poor familie...